The deceptively easygoing singer-songwriter, who perfected the art of kickback music to quaff drinks by in the 1970s, is threatening to sue the owners of a Kingman, Arizona, restaurant named Margaritaville, the title of his signature hit.
Buffett's beef: The word "Margaritaville" is his. As in legally. As in registered trademark. As in hands off.
Attorneys for the entertainer informed owners Emma and Neil Mathews of their trespass via a letter last month, their daughter Theresa Gump told Associated Press.
This is the second time in as many years that Buffett has wrangled with restaurateurs. Last March, he filed a federal lawsuit against the proprietors of a Hawaiian eatery called Cheeseburger in Paradise. His beef then, as now: The business was named after one of his songs, in this case, a 1978 ode to burgers. (The Cheeseburger in Paradise people have countered that they are the ones who have a legal right to use the name.)
If Buffett seems something of a, well, buff of the restaurant industry, he is. He even owns two joints himself, in Key West, Florida, and New Orleans. Their names: Margaritaville.
The Kingman-based Margaritaville has been using the Buffett-esque moniker for about 10 years, Gump said. Her father adopted the name because the establishment specializes in (you guessed it) margaritas. It had--and has--nothing to do with Buffett or his music, she said.
Gump is a little mystified as to how Buffett found out about her folks' place, tucked away in the northwest corner of Arizona.
Ah, but a parent knows.